The healthcare and medical equipment industries in the Middle East and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are on track for robust growth in the next few years, especially as countries in the region have announced massive plans to build hospitals and advanced medical centers, in addition to expanding their current facilities.
Specifically, Saudi Arabia announced a massive plan to increase the number of hospitals around the Kingdom, and incorporate a big healthcare digitization plan to help exchange patient information across the country with the target of providing better healthcare services to patients wherever they are located and whenever they need it. Saudi Arabian healthcare budget for 2013 reached $27.4 billion and is expected to achieve remarkable growth in the coming years to reach $47.7 billion by 2017.
According to Ziyad Neil bin Issa, General Manager of Agfa HealthCare Solutions in the Middle East, the medical equipment market is experiencing tremendous growth driven by several factors such as population growth, urbanization, increase in government healthcare investments, initiatives and strategies, and the increasing prevalence of lifestyle-related diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and cancer.
ifpinfo
9 October
